Air quality

Air quality in Cuttack today

Updated

Unhealthy for Sensitive Groups (US AQI 112) People with heart or lung disease, older adults, children and teens should cut back on prolonged or heavy exertion outdoors. Model estimate for Mon, Oct 26, 7:30 am (02:00 UTC).

Live AQI, PM2.5, PM10 and ozone for Cuttack, Odisha, India, with a 48-hour forecast and the best time to be outside.

US AQI now
112 Unhealthy for Sensitive Groups
PM2.5
37 µg/m³ 2.4× WHO 24-h guideline
PM10
39 µg/m³
Ozone
87 µg/m³
Dominant pollutant
PM2.5 sub-index 112
Best hour today
2:30 pm AQI 105
European AQI
52

Open on the live map

Air quality in Cuttack right now

Right now the modelled US Air Quality Index for Cuttack, Odisha, India is 112, which falls in the "Unhealthy for Sensitive Groups" band (up to 150). People with heart or lung disease, older adults, children and teens should cut back on prolonged or heavy exertion outdoors.

The index is driven mainly by PM2.5, whose own sub-index is 112. Fine and coarse particles come from traffic, heating, industry, dust and smoke; they build up on calm nights and clear when wind or rain arrives.

PM2.5 is 37 µg/m³, 2.4 times the WHO 24-hour guideline of 15 µg/m³; PM10 is 39 µg/m³ against a guideline of 45; ozone is 87 µg/m³ (below the WHO 8-hour level of 100); nitrogen dioxide is 8.2 µg/m³ (below the 24-hour guideline of 25).

Also this hour: UV index 1.2, carbon monoxide 639 µg/m³.

Cuttack AQI forecast: next 48 hours

Over the next 24 hours the AQI is forecast to range from 88 around Tue 7:30 am to 136 around Mon 6:30 pm, from "Moderate" at best to "Unhealthy for Sensitive Groups" at worst.

The following day is expected to be cleaner, averaging about 67 against 108 for the next 24 hours.

Local time (Asia/Kolkata)US AQICategoryPM2.5 µg/m³PM10 µg/m³Ozone µg/m³
Mon 7:30 am112Unhealthy for Sensitive Groups36.73987
Mon 10:30 am109Unhealthy for Sensitive Groups38.242146
Mon 1:30 pm106Unhealthy for Sensitive Groups31.535172
Mon 4:30 pm122Unhealthy for Sensitive Groups27.830147
Mon 7:30 pm134Unhealthy for Sensitive Groups2930133
Mon 10:30 pm109Unhealthy for Sensitive Groups29.230127
Tue 1:30 am94Moderate24.725117
Tue 4:30 am91Moderate21.122108
Tue 7:30 am88Moderate17.91993
Tue 10:30 am82Moderate11.913101
Tue 1:30 pm76Moderate7.3894
Tue 4:30 pm71Moderate101184
Tue 7:30 pm66Moderate91075
Tue 10:30 pm62Moderate6.1774
Wed 1:30 am56Moderate2.7370
Wed 4:30 am51Moderate5669
Wed 7:30 am45Good6.5768

Every third hour of the CAMS forecast via Open-Meteo. US AQI uses rolling averages (24 h for particles, 8 h for ozone), so it moves more slowly than the hourly concentrations.

Best time to be outside in Cuttack today

Between 6 am and 9 pm local time, the cleanest air today is forecast around 2:30 pm (AQI 105, Unhealthy for Sensitive Groups) and the worst around 6:30 pm (AQI 136). That is a swing of 31 points, so a run or walk around 2:30 pm is noticeably better.

Cuttack vs the rest of India

Across 245 India cities we track, the average US AQI right now is 116 (Unhealthy for Sensitive Groups). Cuttack at 112 is about average.

It ranks 134 of 245 from cleanest to most polluted; the cleanest is Dindigul (28) and the most polluted Karnāl (447).

For context, the median across 3,556 cities worldwide is 58.

Air quality in cities near Cuttack

CityDistanceUS AQICategoryPM2.5 µg/m³
Bhubaneswar22 km127Unhealthy for Sensitive Groups46.2
Brahmapur171 km133Unhealthy for Sensitive Groups32.7
Bhetia260 km143Unhealthy for Sensitive Groups47.8
Jamshedpur262 km143Unhealthy for Sensitive Groups47.8
Mango265 km143Unhealthy for Sensitive Groups47.8
Ranchi325 km88Moderate41.1
Maheshtala335 km153Unhealthy63.1
Rajpur Sonarpur343 km153Unhealthy63.1

Model vs measured

We found no measured PM2.5 sensor cell within 25 km of Cuttack, so the numbers on this page are model estimates. Models capture regional pollution well but can miss very local sources such as a busy road or a nearby fire.

Wildfire smoke

PM2.5 is forecast to reach 39 µg/m³ in the next 24 hours while NASA satellites detected 250 fire hotspots within 300 km in the last day (nearest about 8 km away). Smoke is a likely contributor: keep windows closed, run an air purifier or HVAC filter, and check the fire map before heading out.

Advice for sensitive groups

At 112, children, older adults, pregnant people and anyone with asthma, COPD or heart disease should limit time outdoors, especially strenuous activity. A well-fitted N95/FFP2 mask cuts particle exposure; it does not filter ozone.

What the US AQI numbers mean

US AQICategoryWhat it means
0-50GoodAir quality is satisfactory and poses little or no risk; a good time for outdoor activity.
51-100ModerateAcceptable for most people. Unusually sensitive people should consider shortening long or heavy exertion outdoors.
101-150Unhealthy for Sensitive GroupsPeople with heart or lung disease, older adults, children and teens should cut back on prolonged or heavy exertion outdoors.
151-200UnhealthyEveryone should reduce prolonged or heavy exertion outdoors; sensitive groups should avoid it and keep windows closed.
201-300Very UnhealthyHealth alert: everyone should avoid prolonged or heavy exertion outdoors, and sensitive groups should stay indoors.
301-500HazardousEmergency conditions: everyone should avoid all outdoor physical activity and stay indoors with filtered air if possible. The scale tops out at 500; heavier dust or smoke is shown as 500.

Values on this page are modelled by CAMS (Copernicus) and served by Open-Meteo; they are estimates for the area around the city centre, not readings from an official monitor.

Nearby cities

More for Cuttack

Air quality elsewhere

Data: Open-Meteo Air Quality API, Copernicus Atmosphere Monitoring Service (CAMS), NASA FIRMS.